Two Seminole County teens arrested in Orbeez gel-blaster attacks

Two Seminole County teenagers were arrested after investigators say they drove around the county and fired gel beads at strangers, turning what some might dismiss as a prank into battery charges and a string of complaints that left victims with pain, visible marks and fear.

The first reported attack happened May 18 near Red Bug Lake Road and Dovera Drive, where a woman and her husband said she was hit in the back and arm while walking. The couple reported hearing sounds like automatic gunfire as a green car passed, and one witness said the occupants appeared to be laughing as they left the area. The second incident came two days later near State Road 434 between Bennett and Charles streets in Winter Springs, where another woman said she felt a sharp strike in the back of her neck and believed she had been hit three times.

Investigators say the suspects were a 16-year-old and 18-year-old Bryant Otero Villegas, also identified in some reports as Bryant Villegas. Police tracked the vehicle to Winter Springs High School using the Flock License Plate Reader system, then stopped the driver after school. Inside the green, older-model Toyota Corolla with dark-tinted windows, detectives say they found an X-SHOT Gel Blaster HPG-700 and gel BB projectiles. A second gel blaster was later recovered from the other teen’s room.

Both teenagers reportedly admitted firing at random people on both dates. Investigators say the 16-year-old told them the pair had just come from ju-jitsu training in Oviedo when they fired at the first victims, and that Villegas fired at the second pedestrian while he was driving. WFTV reported the victims suffered minor injuries, but the case was still charged as battery because the victims were struck.

The teens turned themselves in to the Winter Springs Police Department on May 27, the last day of student attendance for Seminole County Public Schools. The 16-year-old was booked into the Seminole County Juvenile Assessment Center, and Villegas was booked into the Seminole County Jail.

For Seminole County families, the case is a reminder that gel-blaster attacks can create real harm even when the weapon looks like a toy. What starts as a viral stunt can end with frightened pedestrians, school-adjacent police action and felony-level consequences when strangers are targeted and injured.